Strong
by thestarsaresobrighthere
Summary: Afraid of Greatness one-shot round 2! So, you DO have to have read Afraid of Greatness for this one, so sorry if you haven't read it, go check it out. : So there's a reference about right before their 5th year about going to the Potter's in a week, and this is the first day there. So, yeah this one is rated M for safety.


**Disclaimer: JKR is queen, i don't own anything except the OCs and the plot. :(**

**Hi, for those of you that I know, and SALUTATIONS to those of you that I don't. So, this is a one shot that's sort of alluded too in the hearing chapter in Afraid of Greatness. It talks about in one of her memories that their going to the Potter's in a week and this is their fist day there, and it's kind of dramatic, but what isn't with these crazy kids? **

**I really felt like writing it, instead of developing the plot of the actual fic today, so BAM. Uh, anyways, this one is kind of hard to read if you haven't read Afraid of Greatness, but it's not impossible, but probably confusing as hell.  
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**This one is rated M for safety this time, because of the rather colorful swearing and stuff of that nature.  
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**So read, review, and enjoy,  
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**Stars.  
**

"James!" A 15-year-old Melanie screamed to the boy who was as good as her brother, as she walked into his house. He hugged her tightly, and whispered in her ear, too quiet for his parents, who were looking on, to hear,

"Hey. How's the home life?" She sighed and whispered back,

"Horrible as usual, have you heard from Sirius?" He pulled back to look at her,

"Haven't you seen him? Your mothers' _are_ best friends." She shook her head no as they walked into the kitchen, James directing one of the Potter's house elves to take her trunk to the room she usually stayed in while she was at Potter Manor.

"I haven't seen or heard from him since Nocte in June. I was hoping you would have heard something." She said omitting the hysterical mirror call she had made to him under a tree in a park near her house.

"No, not really, just a little letter that said he'd be arriving today, right after you." She nodded and then screamed shrilly,

"Marley!"

"Mellie!" The girls hugged and started to talk loudly over each other.

"Alice!" Melanie squealed and hugged the smaller girl tightly.

"Hey yourself, loser." Alice grinned and hugged her back. Just then, another two boys walked in, the taller one said,

"What, no hello for the werewolf?" She smiled and hugged him tightly,

"Hey Moony. How was last Wednesday?" He smiled tiredly,

"Okay. I only broke one of my ribs this time." She smiled sadly and petted his head.

"Hey Peter, how are you?" She hugged him too, laughing at being back with her friends, once more. He smiled into her shoulder,

"Good. Glad to be here. Yourself?" She smiled,

"Okay. I'm glad to be here too." She released him, and Marlene and Alice abducted her to the room the three (Lily wasn't coming) were sharing. They all sat down on their beds and conversation came easily,

"How was your summer, Al?"

"Good. I'm telling you. This is the year for Frank and I. I know it. Fifth year is the year I will finally get the guy." The other two laughed,

"Sure it is, Al. You've only been saying that since what? Second year." Marley laughed. Alice scowled at her best friend,

"Well what about you, princess? What did you do?" Marlene laid on her back and sighed,

"Went to Italy with my parents. Mmmm, let me tell you, there is nothing in the world like Italian boys. Oh, just yum." The other two giggled as a distinctly masculine voice said,

"You know except me." Their heads all snapped around to see Sirius Black standing in the girls' doorway. Alice and Marlene both smiled and said,

"Hey Sirius. Good summer?" He grinned and said,

"Nah, but that's okay." Melanie on the other hand, was someone who had missed her best friend dearly, and decided to ignore him, a smile on her lips. The other girls said nothing, but exchanged a glance, smirking.

He looked rather disconcerted, "Uh, Mel? Are you okay?" She still said nothing. Marlene and Alice were starting to snicker a little, "Did I do something to piss you off?" Nothing. Their shoulders started to shake slightly with their laughter. Finally, Sirius noticed the laughing girls and the small, albeit well hidden, smile on her face, "Fine, well I guess I'll just have to—"

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK, YOU PUT ME DOWN. NOW!" He chuckled as she tried to hit his back, as she was slung over his shoulder,

"I don't think so Taylor. Not likely."

"MARLEY! ALICE! SAVVVEEEE MEEEEEE." The other girls laughed in full force now, and grinned.

"Not happening Mel. Not happening." Sirius carried her down the hallway, whistling a cheery tune while she grumbled about traitor friends. He opened a door she couldn't see and tossed her on a bed. She looked around confused, until she realized it was his room. She looked at him skeptically,

"Is there something you're trying to tell me? If you think I'm sexy just say something." He laughed,

"Ha. Cute. But no, there isn't."

"Okay, just checking…what's that?" He looked alarmed at how quickly her tone of voice had sharpened.

"What's what?"

"On your neck." She got up and moved towards him at the same time he backed away from her.

"Oh, that? It's nothing. Mel, get off me. Really." She was having none of it though and walked right up to him and pulled down his t-shirt collar to reveal an angry looking, still-oozing blood, cut about 4 or 5 inches long that ran from half-way down the side of his neck to just under his collarbone.

"Sirius, what did they do to you? What happened?" He wouldn't meet her eyes, "does this involve me?" He said nothing, "Sirius, look at me. Please." Slowly, he looked up to meet her soft blue eyes, so expressive of her emotions. She asked him again, "What happened?"

"They heard my conversation with you last week, through the mirrors. I was able to hide mine before they went through my room, but they still knew it existed. Well, it still does, but regardless." She gently placed a hand under his chin,

"What did they use?" He whispered,

"Glass. Part of an old mirror that broke during the fight I had with my mother over it." She sighed softly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called." His eyes widened,

"Oh, no, don't say that. This isn't your fault. Please don't blame yourself." Her eyes were filling with tears, and he hugged her, rubbing her back, trying to get her to calm down. She spoke, muffled, into his chest,

"You should at least let Mrs. P take a look at that."

"Mel…"

"Please. I don't want you to die because of something that was my fault." He rolled his eyes,

"Please. I'm not going to die, and it's not your fault." She didn't seem to believe him and said nothing, "Fine. I'll let Mrs. P look at it, if it makes you happy." She pulled back to look at his face.

"It would. Neck wounds aren't something to fuck around with. It's to close to your major blood vessels." He sighed, knowing she was probably right.

"Okay, I'll have her look at it right now." She smiled.

"Thank you Sirius. I just want you to take care of yourself, you know. I should probably get back to the girls they'll think we're having lots of sex by now, anyways." With that and a quick hug, she was gone, leaving Sirius to go talk to his adoptive mother about his injury (well, injuries. It had hurt him more than he had let on to lift an almost fully-grown woman).

He thumped down the stairs and found Prongs with his parents in the kitchen, talking about Gryffindor's prospects this year on the Quidditch Cup. They all looked up when he entered and Mrs. P asked,

"Oh, hello Sirius, do you have your things unpacked." He smiled back at her,

"Yeah. I went and saw the girls too. Actually, Melanie insisted that I have you look at a cut I got over break." Mr. P's eyes narrowed,

"How'd you get it, Son?" Sirius shifted uncomfortably, trying to come up with a plausible excuse to tell them. James, interfered before he could come up with something,

"Dad, didn't I tell you he owled me to tell me that he accidentally broke a mirror? That must be it." Sirius relaxed, glad James had come up with something so quickly. He, unlike Sirius, had no problem lying to his parents.

Mr. Potter apparently bought it and let the subject drop and let his wife examine his son's wound.

Mrs. P, unlike her husband, didn't ask any questions,

"Where is it, Sirius dear?" He pulled his shirt collar down and she began to examine it, used to fixing boy's injuries, between her son and husband. James and Mr. P soon cleared out, bored, and Melanie came in a moment later. They both looked at her,

"What? James said you needed me." They both rolled their eyes. Sirius told her,

"James is full of shit." Her eyes widened,

"Oh, well, never mind, I'll go." She went to leave ut Mrs. P called her back,

"Melanie dear, can you stay, actually? There's some glass still in the cut and it's not going to be fun to pull out." She looked confused,

"You want me to do it?" Mrs. P smiled,

"No, I want you to do your best friend duty and sit here and hold Sirius' hand as I pull glass out of his neck." Sirius began to protest that he didn't need anyone to told his hand but Mrs. P silenced him with a look that said 'oh just you wait. You'll want her here, believe me'.

Melanie sat down next to him on the table and Mrs. P got a pair of Muggle tweezers to pull it out, "So, try not to punch me in the face, dear, it's going to hurt, quite a lot, actually." Melanie took his hands in hers, and smiled at him encouragingly. She had small hands, but they were strong, and he could feel a slightly raised scar on the back of her left hand, where her mother had hit her hands with a ruler, trying to get her to write with her right hand, instead of her left. It was in vain, but the scars remained, even though Melanie was a proud lefty. He rubbed his thumb over the scar and she stared at him, "Sirius, look at her, try not to think about what's going on over here."

He looked back at her, and held her gaze as Mrs. P pulled out shards of glass from deep under the skin in his neck. It took about 20 minutes for her to pull all of the glass out, and Melanie was pretty sure her hands were broken from how hard Sirius had been squeezing them. Finally Mrs. P put the tweezers down and said,

"Someone really needs to invent a spell for that one. It's all out, and I just need to heal it. Is there anywhere else?" Sirius hesitated and both women noticed. Melanie spoke,

"Sirius, _is there anything else_?" He sighed and took off his shirt completely, revealing several deep bruises, an extremely deep cut across his chest, and a burn the size of a basketball on his stomach. Mrs. P looked horrified, and Melanie just stared. Mrs. P was completely frozen, surprising, considering she and her husband were both Aurors. Melanie apparently, had no qualms, and began to murmur a very old, rather dark spell to fix the burns.

Mrs. P looked surprised at her knowledge, and at the spell she said,

"I never understood that spell. Well, why it was considered dark." Melanie said nothing, just continued to fix him. Sirius said nothing either, unsure of the answer. He was quite certain that Melanie knew why it was dark, and what the repercussions were. He also got the impression she could care less. He let her fix him, and soon, Sirius Black was as good as new.

That night, there were several conversations being had in Potter Manor. Sirius and James were up in the room they shared and were quietly talking, as to not wake the rest of the house, who unbeknownst to them, we also awake, talking,

"She fixed you? All of you?" Sirius nodded at his brother in all ways but blood,

"Yeah. Every single bruise."

"Can she fix your brain too?"

"Shut up James. So we're going to be doing the transformation as soon as possible, right?" James nodded,

"Yeah, as soon as we can all take a night off of homework and get it done. Stop trying to change the subject, Sirius. I know that you love her. It's all over your face. You love her. She's your Lily." Sirius snorted,

"I don't love her. Please. And besides, even if I did, she doesn't feel the same way, it's a moot point, either way."

"Mhm. Sure."

Alice and Marlene were also quietly talking in their room, Melanie having left earlier to take a walk.

"Do you think Lily and James are going to get together first? Or Sirius and Melanie?" Alice rolled her eyes,

"Neither. Me and Frank are going to start dating before both of them." Marlene threw her hands in the air.

"Fine! But of them, who do you think is going to start dating first?" Alice thought it over,

"Lily and James." Marlene snorted,

"Are you serious?"

"No, he's in the other room." She ignored the pun.

"Really? You're not kidding? Lily and James before Melanie and Sirius? For real?"

"Yep." Alice pops the 'p' at the end. Marlene grinned,

"I'll take that bet. 20 galleons on that." Alice hesitates, but shakes Marlene's hand anyways, knowing full well she's about to lose. She didn't really care though, because bets always seemed to go the exact opposite of how she had bet, which was exactly how she wanted it right now.

Melanie and Mrs. P were having a conversation down in the kitchen, both holding cups of tea,

"Melanie, dear?"

"Yeah, Mrs. P?"

"That spell you preformed on Sirius, you know it's dark magic right?" She nodded.

"I know. It won't hurt you if you use it in small amounts though." Mrs. P hesitated before asking,

"Why is it considered dark? No one ever really knew outside the old families. I'm curious." Melanie sighed, and Mrs. Potter could almost see her aging in the half-light cast by the waning moon.

"I don't know why the old families keep it such a secret, it's not like they ever use it."

"Why not?" She smiles humorlessly,

"Because it involves being self-sacrificing, if only a little. The reason it's considered dark is because, well, okay, so no matter what you're healing, the incantation, the wand movements, it's all the same. And it's because you're not really healing the injuries, but, so, you can't ever tell Sirius or James this. Ever. And actually, don't tell anybody, because they'll end up knowing, and Sirius will never forgive himself for letting me do this, but you're not healing the injuries, you're more of using a little bit of yourself and putting it in the other person. Like transplanting healthy into sick or injured, if that makes sense." Mrs. P's eyebrows rose,

"You're using your soul. Your very life force is used to heal the person. That's extremely dangerous, Melanie. How many times have you done this?" She sighed,

"Twice, other than today. Once for Sirius, another time for his cousin."

"Bellatrix?" She laughs.

"Oh, God no. I meant Narcissa. Like I'd actually help Bellatrix. The injuries I fixed were extremely bad, worse than what you saw today. But not by much, I don't know but what you saw today, it was life-threatening. I reacted strongly, because I care a lot about him, and I didn't even think about what could happen to me because of what I did." Mrs. P smiled at her,

"Do you love him?" Melanie considers this.

"I love him, but I'm not _in _love with him, if that makes sense."

"You will be. One day, I'll be welcoming you as a daughter-in-law to our family. You and Lily." Melanie laughs,

"I don't doubt you'll have Lily as a daughter-in-law, but I don't know about me. Sirius and I, we're too much alike for anything like that. It makes for a rather explosive relationship. Friendship or romantic, we're kind of volatile." Mrs. P smiles at her,

"I don't doubt it, but what I saw today, wasn't explosive, or volatile. It was strong. There's a strong relationship there, what it becomes? That remains to be seen. But do not doubt that boy will be in the rest of your life, no matter what part he plays in it." Melanie smiles at the older woman,

"Mrs. P? When did you become so wise?"

"Well, when I had James, I was under the impression he was going to be an angel. Wrong. I had to smarten up pretty fast once he started to break all of our worldly possessions." The woman laugh, "Oh! That reminds me, I have baby pictures of him that he made me swear I'd never show his friends! Would you like to see them?" Melanie bursts our laughing,

"I'd love to see James' baby pictures and taunt him with them for the rest of his natural life." Mrs. P gets up and returns with a thick binder full of pictures of James' baby butt.

The next morning, James and Sirius go downstairs to find their mother and Melanie asleep with their heads on table with the photos, pages open to a picture of a naked baby James at bath time, flinging bubbles at the camera.


End file.
